Fighting Fire with Fire: Investigating the Use of Controlled Burns in Chronic Wasting Disease Management
Category: Research Poster
Author(s): Naomi Duran
Presenter(s): Naomi Duran
Mentors(s): Margaret Tyer
A prion disease is a group of transmissible neurodegenerative diseases caused by the misfolding of normal prion proteins into a pathogenic form. These misfolded proteins then cause cell death and malfunction of the brain, leading to things like cognitive and neuromuscular issues. One of these prion diseases that affects cervids (animals such as deer and elk) is called Chronic Wasting Disease, or CWD. This disease has been spreading rapidly over the past 20 years, and it is now endemic to North America. It has also been found in Norway, Finland, Sweden, and South Korea. The spread of CWD is believed to be caused by the high environmental prevalence of the disease, due to its high resistance to degredation. This study is investigating the use of controlled forest fire burning to decrease the concentration of CWD found in the environment, in order to control the spread of the disease. This will be done by experimentally contaminating plant samples with different dilutions with a known positive prion sample, burning them in a furnace for different times and temperatures, and testing the concentration of prion proteins found on the samples after burning using Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion. The goal of this study is to find an optimal temperature and time of controlled burning that could be implemented to decrease the amount of CWD in the environment. This research presents a potential way to prevent the spread of CWD across North America.